REED WARBLER. 
91 
IN^SESSORES. 
DENTIROSTRES. SYLVIADM. 
PLATE LXIII. 
REED WARBLER. 
Salicaria arundinacea. 
This beautiful little bird, which is considered much more 
rare and local than the sedge warbler, occurs in tolerable abun¬ 
dance on the Middlesex and Surrey borders of the Thames, 
and the intervening islets. It is easily distinguished from 
the preceding species by its upper plumage, which is of a plain 
brown, unvaried by spots : it is also rather larger in size, 
besides having many other less apparent distinctions. 
Of all our summer birds, the Reed Warbler is the latest 
in its arrival, seldom appearing before the second week in 
May. It frequents spots similar to those inhabited by the 
sedge-bird, namely, the borders of rivers and ponds. On the 
Thames we have very frequently seen it and heard its song, 
and also taken its nests in various places. The song of this bird 
is far superior to that of the sedge warbler ; it is often heard in 
the day, but more frequently at night, at which time we have 
often listened to it for a few minutes under the impression 
that we heard a nightingale of inferior quality. This decep¬ 
tion, however, does not last long, for although the bird com¬ 
mences his song with many of the stanzas of the nightingale, 
he presently relapses into variations of his own, of the same 
character as the chattering notes of his congener the sedge 
